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The Truth About Egypt's Star Religion The Canopus Revelation Delivered at the Questing Conference, London, November 5 2005 Orion, the Hunter
The
central question which needs to be asked is: does this identification
indeed require no justification? Starlore Canopus
Together
with Sirius, Canopus was said to action as the “Plumb Line”,
measuring the depths of the Abyss. One of the reasons why Sirius and
Canopus are deemed to measure the Abyss is because Canopus is situated
virtually directly south from Sirius. Visually, a line connecting Sirius
and Canopus would thus be considered a “plumb line”, with
Canopus the weight at the bottom of it. Robert Temple knew this, as
he had stated that Canopus, when connected to Sirius, was called “Ponderosus”,
meaning “the Weight”. Hamlet’s Mill links the Arabic
name for Canopus, Suhail el-wezn, meaning “heavy-weighing”,
with the weight at the end of a plumb-line. The
importance of Canopus in the Middle East is further underlined by John
North, who argues that the axis of the temple housing the Ka’ba,
the black stone of meteoric origin that is at the centre of Muslim religion,
was aligned to the rising of Canopus. That Canopus was therefore of
major significance to the builders of that temple cannot be disputed.
As
to Lutz, he argued that the name of Canopus had been deliberately misinterpreted
in ancient times, to fit a religious interpretation that connected it
to the words “basket”, “couch” and “chest”.
All three were linked to the cult of Osiris. The
famous dean of Egyptology Budge points towards a drawing in the temple
of Denderah, wherein the resurrection of Osiris is detailed. Osiris
is often seen rising from his funeral bier, or couch, but there is one
depiction of Osiris “rising up out of a basket, which rests upon
a pedestal; behind him stands Isis with her wings stretched out on both
sides of him.” On the right hand side of the image, Osiris is
seen kneeling within a boat, Osiris having the title of “Osiris
Seker, lord of the funeral chest [at] Abydos”. Seker is better
known as Sokar, an ancient deity ruling Abydos. Ascension
The Resurrection Machine From a tomb in the South of France, we need to return to Egypt, to the pyramids. The author Michael Rice pointed out that the Zoser complex was unique. “Once again, it is totally without precedent, not merely in Egypt but in the entire world.” The building of pyramids seems to have been a particular enterprise of the priests of Heliopolis – those linked with the sun god, Ra, with whom Sirius rose heliacally. Imhotep was the chief priest at Heliopolis. There is also a connection with the most impressive pyramids of all: those on the Gizeh plateau. A sacred road connected the Gizeh pyramids to Heliopolis – and all pyramids lie in the general vicinity of Heliopolis; none were built in Upper Egypt. Dr. Gerhard Haeny of the Swiss Institute of Archaeology in Cairo stated that the pyramids of Gizeh align to the obelisk of Heliopolis, which replaced the Temple of the Phoenix, where the benben stone had previously been kept. Mark Lehner also pointed out that the pyramids of the 5th Dynasty, at Abusir, were aligned to Heliopolis. The link between the pyramids and Heliopolis therefore seems quite solid – as solid as hewn stone pyramids. The
Pyramids are also notorious for containing copies of the Book of the
Dead. The Book of the Dead was the manual for the deceased to find his
way in “death”. It is a subject that few Egyptologists have
analysed, as the discussion of religion is normally considered to be
outside of the bailiwick of archaeologists. It has resulted in little
understanding of what ancient Egypt was all about.
The state of the Duat – what others have called the bardo – is therefore identical to the encoffined Osiris: though dead, he is not “dead dead”: there is still potential, not for a continuation of his present earthly life, but for a life “elsewhere”. The “soul” is in a “land of nothingness”, at a crossroads, where the soul is also in need of a guide. In the sky, this gateway was identified with Canopus – it lead to the Duat, a metaphysical state of the soul following death. Let
us go through each option one by one. At death, the easiest path was
the path of reincarnation: one body was exchanged for another and the
cycle of life continued. In nature, this cycle was visible in the snake
shedding its skin, the sun rising and setting, the seasons, the deer
renewing its antlers – symbols and “physical evidence”
that has been found at many sacred sites. It was the path chosen by
most souls, apparently for a variety of reasons: the sahu might have
too much fear to go on a voyage or even dwell in the Duat for too long;
the life review might have been specifically negative: life was not
led properly, and hence a successive incarnation is required for the
soul to grow before it might be ready to return to the Source –
in ancient Egypt identified as Atum, the supreme deity of Heliopolis. Some authors, in particular Andrew Collins, have argued that the Duat was physically represented underneath the Gizeh complex. Although at present still undiscovered – if indeed ever present there – the idea does not seem farfetched. But if the Duat was represented on the Gizeh plateau, I do not think it is hidden underneath its sandy surface. Could it be in front of our very eyes? Could anyone who has visited the Great Pyramid have walked in it? Central
to the imagery of the Duat is a central path, a tunnel, from the world
of the living, into the darkness of the Duat. In that tunnel, the soul
is given three paths, each leading to a specific destiny, and identified,
at least at the times of Tuthankhamun, with three different couches:
a cow, a hippopotamus and a lion.
The Dark side of the Force The
story of the encoffined Osiris forms the spine of the myth of Osiris
and Isis, no doubt the most potent legend that has influenced Mankind
over the past millennia – including the stories of Jesus and Mary
Magdalene. The story is about balacing good and evil – order vs.
chaos – in which the role of the bad guy is played by Seth. René
Guenon remarked that Seth, as the rebel, was the deity that created
incarnations. The
kingdom of Set was supposed to be placed in the northern sky, and his
abode was one of the stars which formed the constellation of Khepesh,
or the “Thigh,” which has been identified with the Great
Bear, and it was from this region that he made use of his baleful influence
to thwart the beneficent designs of Osiris, whose abode was Sah and
of Isis, whose home was Sept, or Sothis. We thus see that the constellation of the Northern pole is linked with Seth, and the Southern constellation of Argo and Canopus, the South Pole, with Osiris. The meridian that connects them can therefore be seen as the “spine”. As above, so below A
lot has been said about sacred geometry in relation to Egypt. I want
to repeat the basic premises on which this is founded. A key aspect
can be found in the Leyden Papyrus: “When a message comes from
heaven, it is heard at Heliopolis, it is repeated at Memphis to Ptah
and it is made into a letter written in the letters of Thoth [at Hermopolis]
for the City of Amun [Thebes].” In Egypt, the river Nile runs from North to South and could therefore be considered to be a depiction of a “meridian” – a natural one. The Nile had its root in Canopus of the South, grew and than diversified, like a tree, around the Nile Delta, with a further Canopus in the North. Creating
a meridian for ancient Egypt has been a favourite pass-time for many
Egypt-enthusiasts. The best-known example is the meridian defined by
the Great Pyramid by Livio Stecchini, which he identified as the “the
central meridian of ancient Egypt”. The
Egyptians were extremely concerned with determining exact boundaries
and areas of land surface. The annual inundation of the Nile erased
all boundary lines between fields. Herodotus, Plato, Diodorus, Strabo,
Clemens of Alexandria, Iamblichus and others, ascribe the origin of
geometry to changes which annually took place from the inundation, and
to the consequent necessity of adjusting the claims of each person respecting
the limits of the lands. Stecchini
did not stop there. He claimed that a number of locations throughout
the ancient world were located in exact geodetic relation to the longitude
meridian of the Great Pyramid. Among the other ancient sites exhibiting
similar geodetic precision were: Nimrod, Sardi, Susa, Mycenae, Dodona
and Delphi, as well as the Ka’aba at Mecca, and Mt. Gerizim, the
original Jewish holy centre, before it was moved to Jerusalem in 980
BC. Another centre was the Persian capital Persepolis, which was located
at 30º 00’ north latitude, and three units of exactly 7º
12’ east of the meridian of the Great Pyramid.
map graphic courtesy of Simon Miles It
is perilous to continue on this path, which might lead to insanity.
Nevertheless, Stecchini’s observations are factual, and we can
only wonder whether they are accidental or not. If not, it is intriguing
that an entire network of “centres of centres” existed,
between the latitudes of thirty and 36 degrees – the northern
limit of visibility of Canopus. Coincidence, or incredible design? If
Stecchini had known the importance of Canopus to the ancient Egyptians,
he would have been able to argue his case with such fervour that potentially
his findings would be taught in schoolbooks. Not only are there six
degrees of latitude between Rhodes, the northern limit of Canopus and
the Gizeh Plateau, there are a further – precise – six degrees
between the Great Pyramid and the Southern boundary of Egypt, Elephantine,
the First Cataract – Canopus of the South. I would suggest this
“coincidence” is no coincidence at all, but reveals the
detailed planning, based on the visibility of the star Canopus, of ancient
Egypt. There is more: the Tropic of Cancer was considered to be located in the times of the earliest dynasties at the latitude 23º51’ North – i.e. virtually identical to Elephantine, with the knowledge that in pre-Dynastic times, the Tropic of Cancer must have coincided at one point with Elephantine – that time might offer us the clue to the true start of ancient Egypt. This means that the centre of the sun disc appeared overhead at this latitude at midday on the summer solstice. Looking towards the South, instead of directly up – to heaven –, Canopus would mark the South Pole star. Twelve degrees of latitude were then drawn to the North, with Gizeh as the “prime primeval hill” of Egypt; Rhodes in the extreme North of Canopus’ visibility on the 36th parallel. Gizeh and its primeval hill were therefore the centre, and from there, the North-South division was made, along the 30th parallel. However, as the Nile did not run until 36 degrees North, the Northern limit of the Nile had to be defined and marked also – the town of Canopus “of the North”, i.e. near Alexandria. When
we look at Stecchini’s plan, we also note that the Paris Meridian
“coincidentally” fits within this Egyptian grid. This is
a remarkable coincidence, to say the least. It is of specific interest
as it is Poussin’s Tomb which sits virtually on top of the Paris
Meridian, of which a lot has been written in the literature on the mystery
of Rennes-le-Château. In the final analysis, Canopus – the South Pole star – is merely a guide, a helmsman, guiding us on the boat that is our life, on the voyage that is our life, from birth to death, and beyond… |
Alan
Alford in The Phoenix Solution stated: “The identification of
Osiris with the star constellation of Orion is well-established, and
requires no justification in these pages.” 
Though
Orion and Sirius are now far more famous than Canopus, the second brightest
star in the sky is not an unknown.
Canopus
also plays an intriguing role in the mystery of Rennes-le-Château.
Another person to talk about Canopus was the infamous Pierre Plantard,
who was said to be the helmsman of the Priory of Sion, made famous in
The Da Vinci Code. This is largely a modern fabrication, but in my opinion,
Plantard used key alchemical imagery that we know existed in France
in the earliest half of the 20th century – and which could thus
easily have been adapted by Plantard.
It
visualises the three paths the soul can take when it enters “death”
– the Egyptian Duat. These options are: floating about in the
Duat, return to our physical world or a spiritual voyage. It is depicted
as a fork in which the central path leads to regeneration (the voyage)
and the other two diverge from it, postponing the regeneration. Muses
further identified each path with the types of couch, or bier –
or coffin – on which the deceased, and Osiris laid. The central
path was identified with the lion couch, the hippopotamus couch with
return to the shore and the cow couch with the floating about in the
Duat.
This
interpretation of the Great Pyramid as the three-dimensional visualisation
of the Duat would explain many anomalies, too many to list here. But
one intriguing anomaly is the “Well shaft”, a roughly hewn
path that connects the Lower Chamber with the fork in the tunnel towards
respectively the Queen’s and King’s Chambers. This path
was the “loop” from the second path, that of the Cow, either
to reincarnation or regeneration. It would, by default, have to bypass
the original “choice” (the original fork in the road), but
would have to lead to both other chambers. For the architect, this presented
a problem, but I believe the shaft and its execution display exactly
the nature of the path: it was rough, “unhewn”. To some
extent, the architect had made the passage from the Queen’s Chamber
to the Lower Chamber more difficult than the passage towards the King’s
Chamber: It was a reminder that the seeker “had come so far, why
not go all the way” – towards ascension? 